Hello, Tweeters,

We held the Sequim-Dungeness CBC last Monday, Dec 15. The preliminary species total looks to be 140, slightly below our average for the last 20 years, but I?m still waiting for better details on a couple birds. Weather was challenging, with a strong easterly wind all day. Even though the winds gusted to 45 mph at the Dungeness lighthouse in late morning, all our field parties hung in there and did a great job. Just our luck ? the winds were calm the day before and the day after.

Interesting species for our count:

Snow Goose - 5 near 3 Crabs
Yellow-billed Loon - 3 counted by our boat party (which bravely went out despite the rough seas)
Black-crowned Night-Heron - 2 roosting in Dungeness (Gale and Windy), who have been present this fall and past falls
Golden Eagle - one count-week immature soaring in the Olympic Foothills
Marbled Godwit - 45 in Dungeness Bay. (Could some Willipa Bay godwits be wintering further north this year?)
Whimbrel - 1 with the godwits
Western Bluebird - 4 off Knapp Road, on the east side of our count circle
White-throated Sparrow - record high count of at least 10, recorded by multiple groups
Rusty Blackbird - 1 hanging with the blackbird flock at Maple View dairy near Washington Harbor
Pine Grosbeak - 1 likely immature male at Graysmarsh, loosely associated with a flock of Red Crossbills

I let you know more after all the data are entered.

Happy Holidays!
Bob Boekelheide
Dungeness